Nanogenerator as self-powered vibration sensor

Vibration is one of the most popular phenomena that exists in our daily life. Detection of mechanical vibration usually uses laser technology. Here, we demonstrated the first application of a piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) as a self-powered sensor for detecting the vibration status of a cantilever. By attaching a NG at the surface of a cantilever near the fixed end, the resonance frequency and amplitude damping have been quantified using the output voltage of the NG without a power source. This study proves another exciting application of NG in the self-powered vibration detection systems. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.